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King of the Ring
King of the Ring is an annual World Wrestling Entertainment tournament that was first held in 1985. From 1993 to 2002, it was held as a pay-per-view event as well. After a four-year hiatus, the King of the Ring tournament returned in 2006 as a SmackDown! exclusive tournament and lastly took place in 2015 as a WWE Network exclusive event. History Although the King of the Ring tournament was first made into a pay-per-view event in 1993, the original King of the Ring tournament was actually held in 1985. Don Muraco was the first King of the Ring in 1985. The second king, Harley Race, is noted for parlaying his King of the Ring victory into his "King of Wrestling" gimmick. Other winners who did the same include Randy Savage ("Macho King"), Owen Hart ("King of Harts"), "King" Mabel, Kurt Angle ("King Kurt"), Edge ("King Edge The Awesome"), Booker T ("King Booker") and most recently Bad News Barrett ("King Barrett") Pay-per-view The King of the Ring was an event in which typically fifteen to sixteen wrestlers wrestled in a one-on-one single elimination bracket. When a wrestler wins a match in the bracket, they advance forward to take on another wrestler that has also won. The final few matches would then take place at that year's King of the Ring event. The winner of the final match is officially crowned the King of the Ring. There were also other matches that took place at the King of the Ring event since it was a traditional three hour pay-per-view. While some believe that the new King of the Ring traditionally receives a WWF/WWE Championship shot at the SummerSlam pay-per-view, this only became an established rule in 2002, for what would become the final King of the Ring tournament for 4 years until SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long brought it back in 2006. Only four kings went on to challenge for the championship at SummerSlam (Owen Hart, Mabel, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar) and only in Lesnar's case was the challenger granted a title shot as a "right" after winning the King of the Ring. More important than an actual title shot was the prestige of winning the tournament itself; some wrestlers have made being king an integral part of their gimmick, and, in general, the winner of the King of the Ring is a wrestler whom management has picked to advance in the storylines and be the next breakout star. In fact, Steve Austin's famous "3:16" saying started at KOTR. A number of wrestlers have had huge successes after winning the tournament (in particular Steve Austin, but also Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and others), while some wrestlers have admittedly been "flops" as king (such as Mabel and Billy Gunn). The PPV also was considered the fifth major WWF PPV (alongside the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) as it was one of their only annual events. King of the Ring dates and venues Winners King of the Ring Winner.1.jpg King of the Ring Winner.2.jpg King of the Ring Winner.3.jpg King of the Ring Winner.4.jpg King of the Ring Winner.5.jpg King of the Ring Winner.6.jpg Video & DVD Images File:King_of_the_Ring_1993.jpg|King of the Ring 1993 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1994.jpg|King of the Ring 1994 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1995.jpg|King of the Ring 1995 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1996.jpg|King of the Ring 1996 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1997.jpg|King of the Ring 1997 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1998.jpg|King of the Ring 1998 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_1999.jpg|King of the Ring 1999 (VHS) File:King_of_the_Ring_2000.jpg|King of the Ring 2000 (VHS) File:King Of The Ring 2001.jpg|King of the Ring 2001 (VHS) File:King Of The Ring 2002.jpg|King of the Ring 2002 (VHS) Winners' Images Trivia *This event saw the first tapping outs of two of the biggest WWE Superstars in WWE, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. **In 2001, Austin tapped out to both Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho after both men applied both the Crippler Crossface and Walls Of Jericho on him at the same time. **In 2002, Hulk Hogan tapped out to Kurt Angle after he applied his Angle Lock maneuver. See also *List of WWE pay-per-view events zh:King of the Ring King of the Ring * Category:World Wrestling Entertainment tournaments